Reopenings continue to push markets up

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Markets around the world continued to rise Tuesday, despite continued violence across American streets surrounding the controversial death of George Floyd and Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric and threats to deploy the U.S. Army against America’s own citizens. Riots from San Francisco to New York are impeding the reopening of the U.S. economy and are threatening to increase Covid-19 cases.

Several Facebook employees staged a virtual walkout to protest their CEO’s insistence of keeping Trump’s inflammatory and factually dubious posts on the social media network. Facebook stock plunged $5 during the day, but managed to close 0.35% higher. New York indices ticked up in the final hour of trading. The Dow closed just above 1% and the Nasdaq eventually rose to finish 0.59% higher.

The TSX closed 1% higher, led by energy, which spiked 4.5%. Not only has Canadian oil has returned to March levels (as seen in the XEG ETF which popped 4.88%), but the differential between WCS and WTI has narrowed to $8 (a barrel of WTI at $37 and WCS at $29). Financials also rallied. For instance, Manulife popped nearly 3%. BlackBerry soared 8.55% on a report that the cybersecurity company is in talks with Fairfax Financial, its biggest shareholder, to take over the company. Fairfax denied the rumour, though.

🕵️‍♂️ Facebook +0.35%
🏛 iUnits S&P/TSX Capped Energy ETF +4.88%
🏛 Manulife Financial +3%
📱 BlackBerry +8.55%